All posts by Tarek Fayoumi…The Paterson of his Craft!

I am someone who strives to become a professional critic. I watch and review many movies. I view the eyes of movies as something as an art form. I have followed many critics over the years, but once I was thirteen I knew writing film reviews was going to be my passion. I learned from watching multiple episodes of Ebert And Roeper in my teen years, and then in middle school I began writing film reviews for a newspaper club. I am also an avid fan of the arts of Chicago including Theatre, Comedy, and music. Films, however, are my primary focus.
Film reviews

Licorice Pizza Review

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Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the purest of auteur directors that the cinema world has today. He has vision and structure that center his films, but he throws in lots of twists and turns as well. Licorice Pizza is no exception.


The first two Paul Thomas Anderson films that spoke to me were Magnolia (1999) and There Will Be Blood (2007). With Licorice Pizza, he has created a film that is an artistic, if sometimes bizarre, masterpiece.


Licorice Pizza is set in 1973 in the San Fernando Valley, where we are introduced to Alana Kane and Gary Valentine, played by Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman. Gary is an entrepreneur who has the hots for Alana and he slowly drags Alana into his business world. Jack Holden is a wealthy businessman, the town tycoon, played by Sean Penn, and there is movie industry man Jon Peters, played by Bradley Cooper. Together these characters create a lot of conflict for Gary and Alana, but they also create a thrill ride of love, success, suspense, and insanity.


I saw Licorice Pizza at the Village East by Angelika in New York, in 70 mm projection, which made it an even more immersive ride. I loved feeling like I was in the 70s with the adventures of Gary and Alana in this one-of-a-kind spectacle. Don’t even think about skipping out on the 70 mm experience if it’s available.

For actor Cooper Hoffman, the son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, Licorice Pizza is a true work of art where he really makes his mark. Philip starred in many films directed by Anderson, and with him gone, Cooper made it feel like we were watching a young version of Philip.

Licorice Pizza is near the top of my list for the best films of 2021. I haven’t experienced anything more nostalgic and honest in a long time, and Anderson really takes the cake with this one. It’s a ride that will take audiences on an unparalleled journey, and it displays a positive message around life’s inevitable challenges. Four stars for Licorice Pizza.

Film reviews

West Side Story Review

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West Side Story will undoubtedly touch many audiences around the world. The lyrical genius of the recently-deceased Stephen Sondheim through the eyes of director Steven Spielberg is a breathtaking and triumphant classic.

West Side Story is based on the classic 1957 musical and is set in New York City’s Upper West Side. The area is torn by rivalry and racism between the Jets, an Anglo-Polish street gang, and the Sharks, a Puerto Rican gang. Tensions between the two gangs escalate when a Jet named Tony, played by Ansel Elgort, falls in love with a Shark girl named Maria, played by Rachel Zegler.

No other film explores elements of love, hatred, segregation, inequality, and racism, as effectively as West Side Story. And it does so in the most invigorating and wonderful way through choreography and dance sequences that leave us simply breathless. I was hooked on each and every one of the sequences, and seeing the film in Dolby Digital made the musical experience even more immersive.

The selection of key characters for this film is perfect. Elgort is the serious Tony that West Side Story deserves. He has the mellow attitude, along with the drive and guts to make change. Zegler, in her feature film debut, has the innocence, the captivation, and many breathtaking moments of joy and sadness that will make Maria fans cry.


West Side Story is a must-see film that is most definitely Oscar-worthy. There has not been a more musically exciting film in quite a while, and this one has so many positive emotions. Audiences will laugh, cry, and smile. It will be one that is remembered for a long time. Four stars for West Side Story.

Film reviews

Don’t Look Up review

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Although Don’t Look Up, the newest film from director Adam McKay, is fiction, it feels very real. McKay has done this before, most notably with The Big Short in 2015. His clever direction and his ability to add spices of humor really come together in Don’t Look Up. It is a dark but lethally funny comedy filled with plenty of adrenaline.

In Don’t Look Up, we are introduced to unknown astronomers Dr. Randall Mindy and Dr. Kate Dibiasky, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, who make a harrowing discovery. While studying the earth’s crust and its orbit they realize that a comet is on a collision course with the earth. Though they are brilliant astronomers, they can’t get anyone to take them seriously because neither of them came from an Ivy League school.

Mindy and Dibiasky do eventually get the attention of egotistical United States President Janie Orlean, played by Meryl Streep, but she cares more about publicity than she does about the fate of the world. Her son Jason, played by Jonah Hill, who is her Chief of Staff, is in way over his head.

This marks Hill’s second film with DiCaprio, their first one being Wolf of Wall Street(2013). In that film Hill and DiCaprio were on the same side, but in Don’t Look Upthey are closer to enemies. DiCaprio has almost the same attitude in this film as he had in Wolf, but here he plays a good guy trying to save the world. Hill is fantastic as his mother’s Chief of Staff, and Meryl Streep can of course still pull off a powerful, egotistical woman with aplomb. Three and a half stars for Don’t Look Up.